1.) BC/AD - Before Christ/Anno Domini - based on traditional date of birth of Jesus, i.e 2010 AD
2.) BCE/CE - Before Common Era/Common Era - used by soft treading people who are as yet still attached to Jesus birth as being something worth reckoning epoch's by. i.e. 2010 CE
3.) Holocene Calendar - Holocene Era (or Human Era) abbreviated as HE. Add's 10,000 years to BC/AD, i.e 12011 HE. Used by people who like long ungainly numbers
4a.) Before Present - BP or ybp (years before present) takes the beginning of carbon dating (1950) as basis for "present" i.e Jesus was born 1950 ybp.
4b.) Ka, Ma, Ga - Thousand Years Ago (Ka), Million Years Ago (Ma), Billion Years Ago (Ga). i.e Sumerian arose 8 Ka, Dinosaurs died 65 Ma, The Universe was born 13.8 Ga.
I intend on dating everything from this date forward by using The Current Present system.
1.) refer to everything as ya (years ago), i.e Jesus was Born 2011 ya. Stratigraphy was born 61 ya. I was born 23 ya. The French Revolution occurred 222 ya. A year from now Jesus will have been born 2012 ya, I will have been born 24 ya, etc. We can reference time at any time scale by any event we choose, because the present always is a clear point of reference.
2.) Include a date stamp to establish in what year the "present was" for the author of the dating. For instance most online data, and books contain date stamps.
3.) When a piece is being republished, the dates can be freely amended by the editors saying "this was written 50 ya, we have therefore updated the dates within the tract to reflect the passing of the years".
4.) Time will be measured "in relation to the measurer" instead of "in relation to a particular event", in this way we overcome the constant iteration of cultural value systems and the conflicts that arises when different value systems collide. If you choose to say it is the year 2011, that is fine, it is 2011 ya since Jesus died. If you choose to say it is 23 ya, that is fine: that is when I was born. The passing of the years are being measured in a way that provides the most context to the content which is currently being communicated.
5.) The Current Present can further incorporate Ka, or Ma, or Ga. In this way the necessity of detail varies at different scales (for Ga, it won't matter, for we are a flash of light at the scale), and so you can easily and seamlessly refer to epochs without invoking cultural biases related to the relative import of historical epochs. I.e we are all 13.8 Ga old.
Using the Current Present I do not need to invoke any cults beliefs or set-in-stone arbitrary dates of historical import when I attempt to give chronological context to my day-to-day.
Thoughts?
On a practical level, your proposed system will encounter difficulties when dealing with electronic technology. They like to put date and time stamps on everything. What do you propose for keeping files (both digital and analog) organized without the need to continually update the date stamp on every file? It seems like a lot of work in order to defy some cult belief. A lot of daily traditions are based on a cult ritual that no longer holds meaning, weight, or influence. Perhaps a more efficient and effective way forward would be to take the 'Common Era' system, and regard it as not having a relation to a specific event, but rather acknowledge it simply as the time that we commonly decided to keep reference from, as an effective means of record keeping.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your list is quite short. You should look at some other culture's time scales. Ones based on dynasties, or empires (what comes to mind first, I'm sure there are scads more). Perhaps there's some better lessons to learn from there.
Trying to erase cultural reference erases a piece of culture. I feel it's important to recognize our common history, be it one we like or dislike. How much more triumphant to remember where we came from, and where we are going? We can look back on the past to remember the lessons we've learned.
Hmm... I cannot argue with that. I think it would certainly cause digital problems.
ReplyDeleteBut what about as a Cultural Practice? An organic shifting of reference? I believe that it has value in that regard...perhaps... I'll keep thinking on it/look into the other dating systems.
I certainly do not view it as an attempt to "erase" any element of our history: I was attempting to create a more reflective dating system of contemporary mores.
G